Stay with MB recommended battery. I've used red top in 124 chasiss cars an they worked and fit fine. Or course if they leaked it was not the end of the world.

I've used the red top Optima in Porsche only because car has no pan or tray, so if battery leaks you're screwed. In the Porsche the Optima battery would frequently fail, possibly due to the fact car is not driven very often.



And incidentally Optimas are advertised as spill proof but they can and do leak. I have two blue top Optimas to run a 24 amp trolling motor and one of the batteries leaked at the vent, and the negative terminal. The other was fine. Both batteries were always charged with the same charger and otherwise treated identically.


Now it you want a really good battery get an Odysess battery. I have run one of those in a Porsche too with not problems. They have not vent they are truely sealed or so they say. They are supposed to be certified to run in the passenger compartment of a car if need be. I bought mine from West Coast Batteries and found they have good prices and service.